oppn parties A Nation Cheering Bronze While Its Golds Vanish

Story Of The Day

As The Captain Promised, Indian Women Win The Hockey Gold

October 03, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Abhijeet Dipke of CJP gave a call for 'jaqil bharo andolan' from Mumbai's Shivaji Park to protest electoral irregularities
  • The BJP government in Bengal is likely to remove the Urban Land Ceiling Act to facilitate development
  • Supreme Court ruled ferrying cattle is not a crime and cannot be equated with slaughter
  • CJP held a well-attended protest rally at Shivaji Park, Mumbai. Celebrities like Shabana Azami and Naseeruddin Shah were also present
  • More than 500 protesters, including former Delhi chief minister Atishi, were detained in Delhi as police moved to prevent a demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission's handling of electoral-roll revision. Police had denied permission for the Jantar Mantar protest and imposed restrictions in central Delhi
  • US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said an India-US trade agreement is not imminent, despite negotiations having entered their final phase, citing a range of unresolved sticking points. His remarks came after talks with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during the G20 Trade Ministers' meeting in Milwaukee
  • The Education Ministry reviewed preparations for upcoming national examinations with the NTA, focusing on exam security, candidate convenience and computer-based testing infrastructure amid discussions over a possible shift of NEET-UG from pen-and-paper to online examination
  • Delhi Police said it had busted an alleged India-Dubai extortion network linked to the Goldy Brar gang and arrested three operatives, who allegedly demanded ₹1 crore from a Delhi businessman and planned to open fire at his residence. Police said the threats were made through UAE-based communications infrastructure
  • Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing arrested actor Dino Morea in connection with the alleged ₹65.54-crore Mithi River desilting scam after questioning him for several hours at his Bandra residence. The investigation concerns alleged financial irregularities in contracts linked to the river's desilting and rejuvenation
  • Bengaluru police busted an interstate counterfeit-currency network and arrested seven people after recovering 4,337 fake ₹500 notes with a face value of about ₹21.7 lakh, along with printing equipment, computers, phones and other material allegedly used in the operation
  • India produced a record six-gold haul at the Asian Games, winning titles in women's hockey, boxing, wrestling and archery and adding two silver and two bronze medals. The day's results lifted India's overall tally to 76 medals, including 16 golds, putting the country fifth in the standings
  • Lovlina Borgohain won her first Asian Games gold, defeating China's Bao Ziyi by unanimous decision in the women's 75kg boxing final on her 29th birthday. Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal also won boxing golds, completing India's first Asian Games boxing gold sweep in 12 years
  • India's women's hockey team defeated China 1-0 in the Asian Games final to win the country's first women's hockey gold at the Games since 1982. Lalremsiami scored the decisive goal and goalkeeper Savita Punia saved a penalty stroke, while the victory also secured India's qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
  • Worldwide praise continued to pour in for Captain Smit Machchhar, the flydubai pilot who fought an assailant in the cockpit and saved the lives of 180 passengers
  • Supreme Court judges decline to meet ONOP parliamentary panel due to reasons of propriety as they said that the matter might later be a subject of court review
Asian Games: October 3 gold medallists: Kumkum Mohod (Archery), Pranavi Urs (Golf), Aman Sehrawat (Wrestling), India men’s cricket team (Cricket), and India men’s hockey team (Hockey) /////// India finishes its campaign in 4th position in the Asian Games medal table: 21 gold, 27 silver, 37 bronze; 85 medals.
oppn parties
A Nation Cheering Bronze While Its Golds Vanish

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2026-10-02 05:37:30

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

India has not moved forward since Hangzhou. It has moved backward and is calling it a good effort.

The Times of India's article today by  Sabi Hussain on the Aichi-Nagoya Games sets out the record. India won 28 golds in 2023, and by Thursday it had lost 20 of those titles. The medal tally has passed 60, against 106 last time. The report also notes that the nine individual golds from Hangzhou, spread across shooting, athletics and archery, had not been defended. These are the events decided by one athlete and the clock, with no teammate to share the burden. India has lost its grip on exactly those.

The ten golds India does hold tell a narrower story. Nine of them came in team, relay or mixed events. One came from an individual athlete, Neeru Dhanda in women's trap. A country with the ambitions India announces should not depend so heavily on formats where a single strong squad can carry the result. Depth in individual sport is what separates a power from a participant, and the numbers show India is thin there.

The reaction is the second failure. Defending squash champions returned with a bronze. A wrestling silver was celebrated because India had waited since 1962 for one. Tennis returned without a medal for the first time since 1986. In each case the coverage found a reason for comfort. A nation that measures itself against its own low points will always find a small win to cheer. It will never find the reason it is falling behind.

The hockey semifinal shows the habit clearly. India built a 3-0 lead over Pakistan, let them claw back, and won 4-3 with seconds left. The result is a place in the final, and that deserves credit. But a champion that nearly throws away a three-goal lead has a problem that the scoreline hides. Relief is not the same as dominance, and the post-match mood confused the two.

Other Asian powers will read these results as an opening. Their programmes plan across years, treat the Asiad as part of a longer preparation, and do not stop to celebrate a single podium. India's athletes often do remarkable things in spite of the structure around them. The question to put to the federations is why the structure produces so few repeat champions. Who selected the squads, who decided the funding, and who answers when a defending gold medallist does not reach a final? Those answers should be on the record, with names and dates.

India's talent is not the issue. Its tolerance for mediocrity is. A system that is never held to account will keep producing the same result and the same explanation. Each time, the public will be told that progress is under way. The medal table says otherwise.


Read the Times of India article


After this article was written, four more individual gold medals were won in brilliant performances by Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Parveen Hooda (65 kg) and Ankush Panghal (80 kg) in boxing and Sujeet Kalkal (65kg) in men's freestyle wrestling

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Written Grounds Are The Price Of An Arrest

Written Grounds Are The Price Of An Arrest

 7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.